Somewhere I Belong
by catsmeow79
Summary: This is just a short post-movie drabble about how Jupiter comes to reconcile who she WAS with who she IS now. Caine, Stinger, and Kiza help her out with that. It will be two chapters. Now finished.
1. Chapter 1

For a time, Jupiter tries to return to her normal human life, juggling her house-cleaning job during the day and her newfound position as galaxial royalty at night, not to mention her toe-curlingly satisfying new relationship with Caine all of which leaves her very little time for sleep. It works for a while, but after only a few months, pressing matters of state seem too numerous to manage as a mere after-thought.

Jupiter realizes that she's in danger of a serious mental burn-out on the day Vladie innocently pulls her pigtail when she's fallen asleep at the dinner table, and in her startled semi-conscious daze she nearly decapitates him with her butter knife. In her copious free time, Caine has _also_ been teaching her some basic legion self-defense moves since they aren't quite sure Titus won't make another move some day in the future. It's when Vladie is sitting on the floor looking stricken and she is apologizing profusely that she realizes she can't continue to go on this way.

She feels strangely off-balance, uncomfortable even, like her own skin no longer fits her. Caine helps her, he somehow always knows what to do and exactly what she needs. A part of her (_the part that speaks of love and loss with her mother's voice_) had worried that when they'd returned to Earth after their adventure things would be different between them. Part of her was concerned that maybe she and Caine had fallen in love too quickly, under such extreme and ridiculous circumstances that there wouldn't be anything real underneath the fiery passion. She'd been wrong, of course. He is perfect, and her heart is full of him.

What she needs right now is more time, time to decide who she is now, how to proceed from here, time to learn all there is to know about her new and expanded universe. Caine figures out how to give this to her. They tell her family that she's applied for a paid internship studying astrology through her father's old observatory, Caine even arranges for documents and a paper trail to confirm the arrangement should anyone investigate. Jupiter will be gone all summer, studying the Aurora Borealis in Alaska (_too far away for her family to manage a visit_).

In reality, she and Caine spend the summer at the Apini's farmhouse. Stinger is the nearest to family that Caine ever had before Jupiter, and he welcomes them both with open arms. Jupiter is grateful to him; for saving Caine's life after Titus fed him to the void and for helping break through the warhammers to rescue _her. _She is grateful especially that he took responsibility during the court-marshal years before Jupiter met either of them, sparing Caine from execution. Maybe she's becoming hopelessly romantic and soppy, but she can't imagine her life without Caine in it now or ever, and she honestly doesn't want to. She may not have everything figured out just yet, but she knows that much.

Kiza is a wonderful teacher, she has a brilliant mind for facts and figures. In the morning, they spend hours pouring over universal history books far more complex than those Jupiter remembers from her high school days. Kiza also helps her understand her financial status, her investments, various holdings and responsibilities. Now that she has the time to learn, Jupiter comprehends for the first time the vastness of her new world and the staggering possibilities of her own place within it.

In the afternoons, when her eyes begin to cross and her brain begins to muddle from the dryness of her "lessons", Caine takes her outside into the sunshine and continues her self-defense. She's actually getting pretty good she thinks to herself as she tucks and rolls quickly avoiding one of his attacks.

Sometimes, when Caine is away on Aegis business, Stinger takes up the role of teacher. He doesn't teach her hand-to-hand combat like Caine does, he teaches her how to fire a weapon, lots of them actually, of all different types. She thinks she's getting pretty decent at those too, but Stinger doesn't say.

Stinger doesn't say much at all actually, not to her. With Kiza and Caine he's open and jovial even, their dinnertime conversations often devolving into raucous laughter as Stinger and Caine alternate re-telling of wild tales from their Legionaire days. Jupiter is happy to listen and laugh along, but she can't help but feel like an outsider in their cozy little family unit. It's only been a few weeks, these things take time she tells herself, and Caine is so happy here and she herself feels lighter, so she ignores the quiet tendrils of worry that slink along the back of her subconscious.

They've been there for six weeks and it's the middle of July when she notices that Kiza is coughing again. At first, Jupiter believes it merely a summer cold or allergies, but she soon realizes how foolish her assumption is when she sees the worry on Stinger's face. In private, she asks Caine what "the bug" is. She's horrified when he explains: Kiza has a parasite that lives inside her lungs, slowly eating the healthy oxygen-processing tissue, causing her to gradually asphyxiate inside her own body. She'll need infusions of Regen-X every few months for the rest of her life to slow the parasite's progress and allow her reasonably comfortable breathing. Kiza is young and vibrant, the little sister Jupiter never got to have, and it breaks her heart to imagine that Kiza's entire life will be filled with this pain.

She asks Caine why the parasite can't simply be removed with such an advanced civilization. It can be he answers, but only The Entitled have access to that level of specialized medical care and only on the central planets. Jupiter smiles then, because now she understands better how this universe works, Kiza has taught her that, and she knows she can find a way. It takes nearly three weeks, hundreds of communications back and forth with inter-galactic advocate Bob, and a half-million C's, but Jupiter finally holds the communiqué in her hand; Kiza's surgical order.

Jupiter waits until Stinger is alone, finding him sitting on the back porch after dinner staring out into the darkness across the corn fields. Caine and Kiza are washing the dishes, laughing and joking inside, arguing like brother and sister and eventually, Jupiter thinks, escalating into a modified water fight more than accomplishing any actual chores. She can't help but smile at the thought because seeing Caine so at-ease, so carefree, makes her heart ache with joy in the same powerful and primal way that his enunciation of "Your Majesty" makes _other_ body parts ache.

"_This came for you today_" she says, sitting down beside Stinger on the stoop and handing him the letter

He takes it from her hand, opening it and angling it toward the dimly glowing porch light so he can read the contents. Jupiter can tell when he gets to the part that matters because he sucks in his breath suddenly, but he says nothing. When he gets to the bottom of the page, his eyes move to the top again, re-reading each word carefully for a second time.

"_You are her father_" Jupiter starts slowly, watching his face as he reads and re-reads the sheet of paper "_I understand if you don't want her to have the surgery, it you think it's too dangerous_" she says "_I don't know anything about the safety or the risk or anything about how these things work on any planet besides Earth_" she explains "_I just wanted you to know that she CAN have the surgery, if that's what's best for her_"

He's silent for several minutes more, and Jupiter wonders if she should leave him here to absorb the information alone. Stinger is a proud man, this she understands about him, but _surely he wouldn't refuse the gift, not for Kiza_? _Surely he understands how much his hospitality and his family have meant to her_? _How this is merely a small way of repaying their kindness to her_?

"_How did you do this_?" Stinger asks finally, turning his head to look at her

"_I happen to have a really smart policies and practices teacher_" Jupiter answers, trying to keep it casual "_And one who's taught me that there's __always__ a loophole to every law _"

"_Why__ did you do this_?" he asks

Jupiter wonders that he doesn't know, but then she opens her mouth to speak and the words do not find her. She wants to say that she's come to love Kiza as her own, that it hurts to see her suffer. She wants to say that the look in Stinger's eyes, the pain on his face as he watches his daughter struggle, stabs into her chest and makes her hurt for _him_. She wants to say that Caine is theirs and she is _his_ now. But it all sounds too big and unwieldy and she doesn't think Stinger would appreciate her overly-emotional musings, so in the end she settles for a gross over-simplification.

"_Because you're his family_" she answers "_And I had the power **to** do it_"

What she doesn't understand yet, what she doesn't recognize within herself, is that she's already begun to think of them as _her_ family.

Stinger seems to accept her words, "_Thank you_" he says simply, his voice even thicker than usual, with a trace of something behind his eyes that Jupiter can't quite place.

"_You're welcome_" she answers, just as simply

Kiza leaves at the beginning of August. She'll be gone for an entire month accounting for the pre- and post-op hospitalization. Jupiter hugs her fiercely as Captain Tsing waits above on the transport ship (apparently there's some concern about security and the Aegis aren't taking any chances, which makes Jupiter worry less).

"_What am I going to do without you_?" Jupiter asks "_Who is going to help me with my studies_?" she grumbles, trying to mask the tears that threaten to fall from her eyes with false irritation.

"_I've left you lesson plans on the table in the office_" Kiza says, returning the hug "_Besides, you've got Dad, and where do you think I learned it all from to begin with_?"

Caine ruffles her hair playfully and then Kiza is gone. It's a little lonely in the house without her, and the dynamic has definitely shifted. Jupiter spends her mornings inside by herself dutifully pouring over the assignments Kiza has left for her, while the boys play outside. Stinger is currently on a break from active duty with the Marshals (medical leave for Kiza) so he and Caine spend a fair amount of time sparing, training, blowing things up out past the corn field.

In the afternoon, Stinger comes inside to work on Aegis paperwork: planetary visa requests, supply requisitions, travel approvals, etc. and Jupiter goes outside to spend time with Caine. It turns out, he's really pretty handy. The farm house is kinda dilapidated and slowly he's been fixing it up. Already this summer he's re-hung the porch swing (and sanded and repainted it), repaired the screen door, fixed three broken steps, and now he's up on the roof, replacing damaged shingles (which is ALL of them).

Jupiter lays beside where he works on the roof (_safely out of nail gun range_), warm sun on her face, reading today's assigned chapters and taking the practice quiz she's been left. She talks to Kiza almost every day, and Kiza returns her corrected quizzes with smiley faces and "well done" stickers which remind Jupiter of kindergarten and make her smile widely. It's a beautiful life and she sighs with quiet contentment.

But something gnaws at the back of her mind – Stinger is different since Kiza left. He has always been quiet around her, aloof even, his eyes never quite rising to meet hers, always held slightly below. Jupiter had always assumed it was a royalty-thing. She's managed to mostly break him of calling her "Your Majesty", but he's never seemed quite comfortable around her. Looking back in hindsight, Jupiter can see now that he'd always made certain never to find himself alone with her, even before Kiza left, but now that it is just the three of them it is more glaringly noticeable.

The chill between them makes her uneasy and she can't say quite why. Caine doesn't seem to notice, so she says nothing to him. She feels as though something hides in the darkness, waiting to lash-out and destroy this newfound contentment, it sends prickles up her spine although she can not logically articulate why. She is so close to having everything she has always wanted, to belonging to a place and to the people in it.

Jupiter tries to ask him one night, when Caine has gone to town for pizza. Since Kiza left, the three have taken to alternating cooking duties which is very sad indeed since Jupiter has never considered herself much of a domestic goddess and Caine and Stinger are both soldiers with very low standards when it comes to what is edible. Right now she finds herself making-due with pizza or Chinese at least four times a week. _God, she misses Kiza and her home-cooked meals_! But right now, Caine is out picking up the extra cheese mushroom and pepperoni, so she takes the opportunity to speak with Stinger alone.

She finds him in his office, standing at the window looking out across the skyline. Good, she isn't interrupting his work. Watching his silhouette, she can see the instant he realizes she is there, because he tenses almost imperceptibly. If she hadn't been studying him so carefully, she never would have noticed, but now she knows her instincts are right.

"_Have I done something to upset you_?" she asks quietly, leaning against the doorjamb.

"_No, of course not_" he answers quickly, too quickly really, turning around to face her

Jupiter takes a few steps forward, coming more fully into the room now "_It just seems like you've been avoiding me_" she explains "_Like you find excuses to disappear whenever I'm around_"

He doesn't deny her accusation or offer any explanation, his eyes remaining unreadable as he holds them low "_I'm sorry if I've made you feel that way_" he apologizes and Jupiter believes that he means it "_Your Majesty is most welcome in my home, in my family_"

Something in his placating tone, in his choice of words, makes her want to hit him, hard. He is patronizing her, not exactly lying to her, but nor is he telling her the truth, and it makes anger flare up her inside her. She isn't an idiot, she can see that something is wrong between them, she just doesn't know what. _How can she repair it if she doesn't know what it is_? And it occurs to her as her temper rises, bringing color to her cheeks, that repairing it truly matters to her, that her relationship with Stinger is important to her.

She has the irrational desire to stomp her feet and throw a tantrum like a five-year-old and demand that he tell her what his fucking problem is. And as she entertains the absurdity of the thought for a moment, she realizes that it isn't quite so ridiculous. If she can't break him of his deference to her royalty, she can at least use it to her advantage just this once.

"_As your queen, if I ordered you to tell me, would you_?" she asks, watching him carefully

"_Of course_" he answers quietly, eyes still downcast

Jupiter isn't good at reading Stinger like she's become at reading Caine, but it might have been fear that she saw flicker across his eyes, and it makes her feel ashamed of herself for pushing so hard.

"_I can't fix it, if you don't tell me_" she tries once again, more gently this time.

"_The short-coming is mine, not yours. I promise_" he replies, his eyes rising to meet hers this time, the certainty of truth shining within them.

"_If you say_" she answers with quiet defeat, turning and going out onto the porch to wait for Caine, tucking her legs underneath her body and swinging herself on the porch swing. She feels inexplicably uneasy.

.

.

.

.

.

tbc


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note**: _So here is the conclusion of my little story, thanks so much for reading. It ran a little longer than I anticipated, I had too much fun playing around with Jupiter's abandonment issues and the various pack/hive dynamics that require adjustment on all sides. Please leave a review, it makes me happy :-)_

* * *

Later that week, Caine is called off-planet on Legion business. It's funny, Jupiter thinks, recalling how highly she used to value her space and her privacy (_likely a direct result of having neither for pretty much her entire life_). Caine is the opposite, at least within a romantic relationship. When they'd first returned to Earth, it had taken her a little while to get used to his constant tactile displays of affection - - touching, nuzzling, snuggling, he seemed to have an instinctual need to keep her physically close. Now that she _is_ used to it, now that she craves the intimacy herself, she finds sleeping in their bed without him to be difficult.

The first night he's gone, she tosses and turns restlessly. The second night, she awakens from a nightmare to find her arms and legs trapped; twisted in the sheets, and hot tears streaming down her cheeks. She comes awake with a start and finds Stinger sitting on the bed beside her, hand on her shoulder as he gently tries to waken her from her terror. As the real world comes back into focus and the nightmare begins to fade, she blinks several times in confusion at the darkness of the room before realizing where she is and launching herself into Stinger's arms, sobbing incoherently into his shoulder. To her surprise and relief, he doesn't recoil. Instead, he wraps her in his arms, crooning soothingly into her ear.

"_Shhh_" he murmurs, stroking her hair "_It's all right, t'was only a dream_"

Jupiter remembers then that he raised Kiza by himself, and therefore can't be completely inept at providing emotional support. In fact, he's doing really well right this moment.

When she finally calms down and wakes up fully, Jupiter feels foolish. "_I'm sorry_" she apologizes, rubbing her hands over her swollen eyes, brushing away the remaining tears.

"_Do you want to tell me about it_?" he asks as she scoots away

"_It was Caine_" she begins "_There was a Sargon_ . . ." she trails off "_I don't want to relive it_"

Stinger nods in understanding "_Why don't I make you some tea_?" he suggests, rising to his feet.

"_Would you_ . . ." she hesitates before asking, slightly embarrassed (although truthfully, it's a miracle she hasn't had MORE nightmares considering the events at the refinery) "_Can we call him_? _Just to make sure that he's okay_?"

She knows she's being ridiculous, but Stinger humors her without protest and Jupiter has never appreciated his quiet nature more. Thirty minutes later, he does bring her that cup of tea (_he's begun stocking her favorite herbal brand_). She is sitting on the sofa, having wrapped herself in the afghan her aunt knitted for her when she was born, a kind of security blanket. They've already talked to Caine by this time and all is well, he'll be back in the morning.

Stinger stays by her side her until she falls back asleep. He tucks the afghan securely around her shoulders, kissing the top of her head gently before he turns off the light and heads back upstairs.

The next morning, Stinger makes pancakes, and Caine gets home just in time to join them for breakfast. Jupiter drinks her coffee, eats her food, and he tells them both about his trip. Her previous unease fades away at the sweet domesticity of the scene, and she can't quite remember why she was so worried anymore.

It's mid-August now, and the heat closes around the house like a vice, but they are happy inside it, Jupiter is happy in the small corner of the universe that seems to belong to her. But it is not to last. It happens on a Thursday, the hottest day on record, the heat of the summer a raging inferno, pressing down oppressively to cook them inside their own skin.

Caine and Stinger have been up on the roof since dawn – Caine is trying valiantly to make a handyman out of Stinger, guiding him through the re-shingling process with very little success. Jupiter is in the office, trying to focus on her studies with the sweltering heat being the least of her distractions as every so often the nail gun "pops" above her head, interspersed with occasional curses from Stinger and bouts of laughter trickling down through the floorboards. Just as she's about to give up on the book she's currently reading, she sees the boys come swooping down off the roof and fly gracefully across the field and out of sight toward the small pond at the farm's edge.

"_Oh good_" she mutters to herself as she tosses her book to the side and pads off barefoot to the kitchen. "_Time for a break"_ she thinks, standing in front of the open refrigerator, letting the cool air slide deliciously across her overheated skin for a few moments before grabbing the pitcher of lemonade and pouring herself a glass. Knowing the guys will be down at the pond cooling themselves off with a swim, she pours some of the liquid into a plastic travel jug and decides to walk down to join them.

This is when she sees it, when it finally all makes sense to her. Caine is in the water; splashing and "whooping" playfully, and Stinger is lying on the small wooden dock, his wings splayed open wide above him, drying in the sun. Jupiter is approaching from the narrow path cut through the corn field when her eyes land on Stinger, and she realizes with a jolt that she has never before seen him so unguarded. Suddenly, she realizes that every expression she's ever witnessed has been a mask, a carefully constructed façade.

At this moment his face is not so serious, not so formal as it always seems to be in front of her royal presence. He's unguarded, his face relaxed and happy in the bright sunshine and he looks at least a decade younger like this, and Jupiter catches herself thinking for a moment that Stinger is really quite lovely in his own way, and THEN she notices his eyes. They're fixed on Caine, who is facing away from them both, fluttering a few feet above the surface of the pond as he whips the water from his feathers by beating them back and forth, and Stinger's eyes are filled with . . . . . . longing.

Jupiter feels like she's been punched in the gut. Barely managing to stifle an outward gasp, she puts her hands over her mouth in shock, stepping backward quickly, back into the cover of the half-grown corn stalks and turns to run back to the house before either of them know she was ever there.

She skips dinner that night, claiming a headache, which isn't a lie because every single part of her hurts right now, body and soul. The more you care, the more the world finds ways to hurt you for it, why had she let herself forget that?

Later, when she climbs into bed beside Caine, her mind replays the look in Stinger's eyes over and over on a repeating loop and her stomach flips with nausea. When Caine slips his hands beneath the sheets to touch her, she stiffens involuntarily in his arms.

"_Not tonight_" she murmurs, turning on her side, away from him.

Caine kisses her shoulder sweetly, moving to wrap his arms around her in their habitual spooning sleep-pose but she can not force her body to relax. The stiffness radiates from her every pore when he touches her and she knows that he can sense it. After a few moments, Caine exhales softly, a small whine in the back of his throat, and releasing her, he rolls onto his back to sleep at her side.

She's wounded him, she knows it without even opening her eyes. They've slept wrapped around each other every night since her return to Earth after Balem's death, they've had sex every night since they started having sex - - every night. In all their time together, she's never asked him not to touch her and she knows she can't leave it like this between them, his need to cuddle and lick and touch and be close up in her personal space is part of his instinctive lupine pack-dynamic, it's part of them now.

In past relationships, Jupiter had always valued her space and independence, but perhaps that was because those men had always been wrong, and Caine was right, so very very right. He made her feel safe, and secure and worshipped and loved and she found that she didn't mind his constant physical need for her at all. In fact, she really enjoyed it herself, taking complete and gleeful advantage of his stamina and his super-speedy recuperative powers several times a night whenever possible.

Now, when she thinks about it, about all of the rampant and not always silent boot-knocking they've been doing this summer it makes her more than a little queasy. They'd been screwing like bunnies in his – what? former lover's? house for the past two months. _Oh god, she really is going to vomit_. Caine whines beside her, his body twitching slightly with the anxiety he can feel radiating from her. This isn't his fault, he hasn't done anything wrong, Jupiter knows that on a logical level, everyone has a past, but her emotions are calling the shots right now and _they_ can't help but feel betrayed.

"_I love you_" she whispers into the darkness, reaching her hand back to run it through his hair, scratching slightly, trying to reassure him "_I'm just not feeling well_"

It continues like this for three more days: she can't eat, she can't focus to study, and her mind whirls with imaginings. She takes long walks by herself, lost in her own thoughts until eventually Caine comes to find her as the sun begins to set.

Jupiter was born without a country, without a home, and she's always known that those scars of not belonging ran deep within her, making it hard for her to trust. She'd thought those scars were beginning to heal, but now the rug's been yanked out from under her feet leaving her flailing in the darkness alone once again.

As she walks, she replays previous events, finding that they look different through this new lens. She thinks back to Caine's original deal with Titus - - he'd wanted Stinger's wings back, he'd made the deal for Stinger's reinstatement because he owed him yes, but also because he loved him. She'd known that before, but she'd always assumed it was a brotherly or even a fatherly love, the bond between soldiers. Now she knew differently and she wasn't sure how to process that knowledge.

She thinks back to the first day she met Stinger and Kiza, to the knock-down, drag-out fight on the front porch - why hadn't she recognized the emotion behind the violence and brutality? Why hadn't she seen the passion between them then?

She remembers her rescue from Titus's cruiser, how Stinger was the only person Caine had trusted to have his back, how he'd forgiven his betrayal so easily, so instantaneously. She should have seen it sooner. Jupiter walks, for miles and miles as her brain whirls, but she doesn't think to leave him, it never occurs to her to try to stop loving him. Her life's timeline is divided into two sections now: Before Caine and After Caine.

Caine is worried about her, on the fourth day she overhears him talking to Stinger in hushed tones - he's afraid she's ill and he wants to send for a doctor. For the first time in their relationship, he doesn't instinctively know how to help her because he can't figure out what is wrong. Jupiter realizes once again that she can't keep going on this way, she needs to do something in order to sort this out.

She decides to talk to Stinger. Stinger understands Earthly-ways better, he has lived here longer, he will understand why she is so heartsick. Part of her knows even without asking that Caine is naïve when it comes to Earth customs, that he will not understand the source of her feelings. She knows already that if he had realized his history with Stinger would bother her, that he would have told her about it. She knows she should talk to him, but she just can't, not yet, because whether or not he comprehends the source of her hurt and anger, she knows he will turn it inwards upon himself, feeling guilty for causing her pain, and she just can't handle his hurt along with her own right now.

Jupiter tells Caine that she's feeling better and asks him to fly to Chicago to get take-out from her favorite Chinese restaurant. He's happy to go, he looks so excited that she's asked him to do something for her that her heart squeezes with guilt and flutters with love simultaneously.

When she comes back inside the house after Caine leaves, Stinger is waiting for her. For once, his eyes meet hers steadily and she can see that he knows she's guessed his secret. She can also see now that it wasn't anger or resentment he was hiding, it was guilt. Now, he looks maybe even a little relieved mixed with the anxiety of the inevitable confrontation. She walks into the living room and sits down on the couch, tucking her bare feet beneath her. Stinger chooses the chair on the other side of the coffee table, sitting across from her.

Jupiter starts "_You were lovers_?" she asks, already knowing the answer

"_Yes_" he confirms

"_The military doesn't have rules about that sort of thing between commanders and subordinates_?" she queries, not really sure why she's asked since it's hardly the problem at hand.

"_It's different than it is here on Earth_" Stinger starts cautiously "_There isn't a stigma associated with bi-sexuality or such a focus on monogamy in our culture. Our people are free to explore pleasure wherever they find it with the small exception of Entitled and Splices, which is sort of an unwritten taboo_"

"_Yeah, that one I knew already_" she sighs, shifting her legs beneath her

When she doesn't say anymore, Stinger continues. "_After you've lived for millennia, you come to understand that love isn't as narrow a concept as Earth's "fairy tales" make it seem_".

Jupiter remembers Kalique saying something similar, about time changing one's perspective on a great many things.

After another prolonged silence, Stinger speaks again "_Regardless of our own customs_, _Caine is aware of what's expected here on Earth, he understands the covenants, he will not break them_"

Jupiter winces, realizing that she hadn't really considered that as a possibility during her endless walking "_Is that your way of telling me that the two of you haven't been screwing around behind my back all this time_?" she asks, knowing she's being unkind.

"_We haven't been_" he says flatly, a touch of insult tingeing the edge of his voice "_Neither of us would do that to you_" he insists

Feeling guilty for taking such a cheap shot, she takes a few deep breaths "_I didn't think that, not really_" she says quietly

It's true, she didn't think they were still carrying on. However, exes are one thing, and exes who are still in-love are quite another. It's cards on the table time, so she takes a deep breath and says it "_But_ . . . . . _you're still in love with him_"

It wasn't actually a question, but Stinger nods in affirmation anyway.

"_Is he in love with you_?" she asks, already knowing that answer too.

"_Not like he is with you_" he responds, meeting her eyes without artifice, quiet certainty in his voice.

When he sees her knitted brow, he continues "_It's like the difference between C4 and napalm_" he explains, using an analogy that is so perfectly Stinger "_One causes a tiny, localized explosion, and the other burns so hot that it irrevocably changes the surrounding landscape forever_"

Jupiter doesn't say anything for a few moments and the silence isn't entirely comfortable but she doesn't know how to break it "_Why did you two break-up_?" she asks finally.

She can tell from his face that it's exactly as she'd feared.

"_Caine was sent to the deadland and I was posted here_" Stinger answers slowly "_We didn't see each other for several years, so it just sort of ended_"

But it hadn't, she wants to scream, they hadn't grown apart, they hadn't fallen out of love with each other, cruel circumstance had separated them and then Caine had met her. A portion of Jupiter feels irrationally guilty, like she's swooped in and stolen something precious that belonged to another, while the rest of her has no intention in hell of giving it/him back.

"_You must hate me_" she whispers, feeling the sting of tears behind her eyes even as she realizes how foolishly childish the question sounds. Why should it matter? Why should she care how he feels about her?

To his credit, Stinger looks aghast at the question, genuinely shocked, as if that never occurred to him and he can't imagine why she would think such a thing "_Of course I don't_" he replies, and his voice is so firm that he's almost shouting at her.

Jupiter wonders, _does he not understand the concept of jealousy_? _Is that a bee-thing_? She feels inexplicably relieved at his answer though, because he does matter to her, whether she wants him to or not, she couldn't bear it if he hated her.

"_What should I do_?" she asks him helplessly

"_Talk to Caine_" he advises "_He'll do anything you want him to in order to fix this. He'll walk away and never speak to Kiza or I again if you tell him that's what you want_"

She can't help herself from asking because it would explain so much "_Is that why you've been so weird, because you thought that's what I'd do if I found out_?"

"_No_" he responds softly, his eyes filling with remorse "_You have been so kind to Kiza and so forgiving of my failings_" he says, clearing his throat, thinking of the incident with Titus "_I was ashamed of myself_" he pauses again " _For_ . . . ."

"_Coveting my boyfriend_?" Jupiter supplies, arching her eyebrows

"_Keeping secrets from you_" he allows

"_Why did you_?" she asks, rubbing the heel of her hand across her ribs where a constant and painful pressure have been sitting ever since the pond "_Keep it a secret, I mean. I get that Caine didn't know he __**should**__ tell me, but you knew_"

Stinger stands now, pacing back and forth several strides before sitting back down, like he's trying to find the right words. He's not a man close to his emotions, not used to expressing them outloud.

"_I didn't know you well at first_" he answers thoughtfully "_Some Territes can be . . . small-minded_" he says, rubbing his chin "_By the time I knew that you were different, that you wouldn't forsake him, Kiza was already so fond of you, and I'd gotten used to having you around, and it just seemed like why make it awkward, you know_?"

She **does** know, she knows all too well.

Caine comes home with the food then, and it's the end of their discussion.

Something inside of her feels lighter now, having talked about it, though she can't quite explain why since nothing has been resolved. It reminds her that she's always liked Stinger, from the first moment she'd met him. When she'd asked him for the truth about the Earth, he'd provided it for her just as he had done now, even when he thought she didn't truly _want_ the truth.

She feels better after talking with Stinger (and eating the Chinese food from her favorite restaurant) but she needs some time and space to think, to process everything. The damnation of it is that she'd only just begun to discover what she thought would be her new place in the world and now everything is all muddled and complicated again. Now, she needs to figure out how this new information fits into the picture she had begun to envision for her future.

She goes home to Chicago to visit her family. "_I love you_" she says because she KNOWS this for certain if nothing else, kissing Caine's cheek on the front porch as Stinger watches from the office window "_I'm coming back to you, I just need some time to think_" she promises.

Caine doesn't understand why she is leaving, and she knows he thinks he's being punished somehow, that he's done something wrong, but he lets her go without argument, which only makes her love him more. And miss him.

At Vassili's house things are much the same as when she left. In her absence, her younger cousin Stasha has made herself quite at home in Jupiter's closet and make-up drawer, but she can't find it in her to be mad, family being what it is. Besides, wardrobe seems like such a trivial matter when compared to the aborted annihilation of the Earth, so Jupiter doesn't even comment.

She's back for only a day when she begins to miss the farm, but it takes her two more days to recognize the knot forming in her stomach for what it is. She misses Caine, but that she had expected – she's madly in love with him, she's supposed to miss him. What she hadn't expected was to miss the place, the house, and Stinger, that takes longer to wrap her head around.

She thinks about how Stinger said he'd "gotten used to" having her around and ridiculously, it fills her chest with warmth. She's making the morning coffee for her mother and aunt when it strikes her suddenly that Stinger doesn't drink coffee, actually said that he hated the smell of it once, and yet he had always made a fresh pot for her when she awoke in the morning. _Why hadn't she taken notice of that before_?

He'd also gotten a television and satellite dish installed for the summer because Jupiter was addicted to American Idol, he picked up peach Snapple when he went to the market, and he didn't complain when she hung her bra over the shower rod to dry. Stinger had even spent countless hours answering her endless questions on the republic and various other worlds. He was probably bored senseless and it was probably all really basic stuff to him, but he'd never made her feel stupid or foolish for asking and he'd always taken the time to answer her.

Looking back now, Jupiter recognizes that somewhere halfway through the summer, without even being aware of it, she'd begun to stop thinking of it as a vacation and started to think about it as her actual life, her future. Maybe that was why she had been so gutted when she'd found out about Caine and Stinger's past? Because she'd unconsciously assumed that this revelation would signal the end of her new and blissfully happy family, because how could they realistically move past it? She and Caine could move out of course, find their own place, but then they would both lose Stinger and Kiza and the familial connections they'd forged together, Jupiter didn't want that. But she couldn't see how she and Caine could stay, share a bedroom next to Stinger's and look him in the eye every morning over breakfast.

Somewhere between cleaning the third and the fourth house of the day, Jupiter starts to wonder if she hasn't been giving herself enough credit. After all, she's already been gob-smacked once by the revelation that not only is Earth **NOT** the center of the universe, but she is a reincarnated queen who now owns it's title. She survived numerous assassination attempts and fell in love with a species she'd hadn't even know **existed** six months ago. She'd managed to adjust to THAT new reality, maybe she can adjust to this too, it is merely a matter of figuring out what she wants and how to accomplish it. It's like Kiza's surgery she reckons, slamming the lid down on the last toilet seat - - where there's a will, there's a way.

She's sitting at the dinner table half-listening to her uncle and cousin Vladdie argue about the White Sox pennant chances when she makes her Earth-shattering revelation. Stasha has just walked in dressed for a night-out wearing Jupiter's favorite red cocktail dress, the one she'd saved six months in order to afford because she'd seen it in Katherine's closet and _had_ to have one for herself. There was a time Jupiter would have yelled and screamed before reluctantly letting Stasha borrow that dress (because you make compromises for family). Now, she merely smiles and tells Stasha how beautiful she looks, and that's when the answer comes to her.

Jupiter shakes her head at herself when she realizes she's comparing Caine to a dress, but she asks to be excused from the table and she packs her bags that very night, heading back to the farm. She's realized that although her uncle's house will always be her home and her family will always be her family, there are people she belongs with **more** right now, and a new place that her heart has begun to call home.

Stinger hears her coming and walks out onto the porch to greet her. He looks a little tired, maybe a little stressed and Jupiter's mind leaps immediately to worst case scenarios. "_Have you heard from Kiza_?" she asks worriedly

"_What_?" he asks, taking a moment to process before he understands her concern "_No, Yes, she's good, great in fact, she'll be on a transport back home next week_"

"_Good, I'm glad_" she answers fidgeting a little as she darts her eyes from side to side wondering why Caine isn't there to greet her.

Reading her mind, he answers her unspoken question "_He's running a quick errand for the marshals off-world, he'll be back in a few hours_"

Jupiter nods, walking up onto the porch to stand beside him, suddenly aware that she hasn't really planned how to begin the conversation.

"_How is your family_?" he asks when the silence stretches too long, saving her from her own awkwardness

"_They're good, thanks_" she responds easily "_Loud, nosy, dysfunctional, but good_"

She walks over to sit down on the porch swing, breathing in deeply, enjoying the country air. Now, she knows just where to start. "_I've been thinking about family, the concept of it, you know?_" she asks rhetorically, looking up at him "_You're born into one that you don't choose and it's sorta luck of the draw who you end up with, and then, you spend the whole rest of your life assembling another family, one you DO choose_."

"_Yeah_" he answers noncommittally, and she can't tell if he's following her train of thought or not.

"_It's weird_" she confesses "_Visiting Chicago didn't feel like going home anymore, not like I thought it would_"

Now she thinks he understands because his eyes are focusing intently on hers.

"_I was wondering_" she begins "_Would you mind if Caine and I stayed past the summer_?"

"_I wouldn't mind at all_" Stinger responds, and he's almost smiling now, the corners of his mouth turned upward just a little "_In fact, I'd be really glad of it_"

Jupiter smiles in response because his face is so much more expressive now that there are no more secrets between them. She thinks she can read how much he wanted her to stay, not only for Caine and Kiza, but for himself also, palpable relief evident in the uncrinkling of the lines on his forehead.

"_You meant what you said_?" she asks, because although she can see it on his face now, she wants to hear it all the same "_I'm welcome in your home, in your family_?"

"_I meant it_" he nods, walking over to take her bags and carry them into the house in case she needs further proof.

Jupiter smiles and follows him inside.

"_I grew up in one tiny house with a huge extended family_" she tells him later, when she's finished unpacking her things and he's poured her a glass of wine.

Stinger is leaning against the porch railing watching her as she reclines on the swing, occasionally taking a sip from the mason jar he's given her. It's not really appropriate for the wine, but perfectly appropriate for his level of reluctant domesticity.

"_I shared a bedroom with my mother and my aunt_" she says, taking another sip "_I shared a bathroom with three more besides them. I learned really early the art of compromise, of sharing/give and take. It's necessary in a large family like mine_" she continues, looking around at the numerous honeycombs that cover the porch and yard, knowing that Stinger already understands this concept himself.

Jupiter sits up gracefully, putting her bare feet on the ground to stop the rocking of the chair "_You know, a 'what's mine is yours' kind philosophy_?" she inquires pointedly, pinning him with her eyes.

She walks over to where Stinger is leaning against the railing and stands beside him, setting the mason jar on the rail next to his hand. "_I don't want Caine to miss out on anything he wants because of me_" she says, putting her hands on either side of Stingers face and pressing her lips gently to his. It's not a come-on, but it's definitely more than just friendly. She pulls away after only a second "_I don't want __**you**__ to miss out on anything because of me_"

Stinger remains frozen in place, just looking at her.

"_I guess what I'm saying is . . . . . I'm used to sharing with family . . . . . I'm __willing__ to share with family_" She can tell the exact moment that he understands what she means because he stops breathing and everything in the night around them is so perfectly still that she thinks she can hear his heartbeat thundering in his chest.

His eyes come to hers, searching, and she meets his gaze steadily.

"_You don't have to do that_" he manages, his voice a croak.

"_I want to_" she responds, reaching out to take his hand in hers and twine their fingers together "_There's very little I __wouldn't__ do for the people I love_"

Stinger knows this already. He remembers thinking it months ago when she'd gone willingly onto the refinery, knowing Balem would surely kill her, remembers thinking that he'd never met anyone more quietly courageous than she was. If she counted him now, among those she loved, he was a lucky man indeed.

"_I'm game if you are_" she smiles, winking to ease the tension.

Stinger swallows hard, finding his voice trapped in his throat "_Yes_" is all he can manage.

His voice is even rougher than usual, gravely with an added rasp of surprise and Jupiter notes that it's pretty damn sexy.

Caine comes home then, finding the two of them standing face to face, the electricity between them palpable. Stinger makes himself scarce, disappearing into the kitchen with the offer of warming up some cold pizza while Jupiter and Caine "take a walk and talk things over".

After the walk and talk, after the pizza and a little more wine, Jupiter finds herself on Stinger's bed, sitting up against the headboard, chewing thoughtfully on her index finger as she watches Caine and Stinger devour each other. There's really no other word for it, they are a tangle of skin and feathers, growling and buzzing. They're kind of making a mess, banging against the wall, chipping the plaster and knocking lamps over - - it's shockingly violent and surprisingly beautiful, and she can't pull her eyes away.

Jupiter Jones smiles, unbelievably content now that she's found her place in the universe and that's really saying something since it turns out that the universe is a far bigger place than she'd ever imagined and miraculously, her broken compass has led her here - - to her new family and the future she was meant for.

She closes her eyes, her mind free from worries for the first time in her life. Smiling dreamily, she waits patiently for them to turn their attentions toward her . . .

The End

* * *

**Author's Note**: _I hope the non-traditional pairing didn't put anyone off, I really wanted to explore their group dynamics and give everyone involved a happy ending. Plus, on a personal level, I would NOT mind being the cream in a Sean Bean/Channing Tatum Oreo_ ;-)


End file.
